TWI855485B - Wearable stethoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

A wearable stethoscope includes a clothing body, a sound sensor configured to collect heart sound signals of a user, the sound sensor having a diaphragm, a piezoelectric sensor, and a circuit board. The circuit board is electrically connected to th sound sensor and the piezoelectric sensor to preprocess the collected heart sound signals. The sound sensor is integrated in the clothing body.

Description

Wearable stethoscope

The present invention relates to a technology related to a stethoscope, in particular to a wearable stethoscope.

In recent years, wearable sensors have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, such as smart watches and bracelets, which allow us to continuously monitor our health in a non-invasive way.

According to the survey report, consumers expect to be able to integrate medical wearable devices into their clothing. With the improvement of global health awareness, the demand for medical wearable devices is also increasing. Technically, they can use Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology to connect with mobile phones to record or analyze various sensor values, and upload sensor data to the cloud, allowing doctors to monitor and track the health status of the elderly or patients remotely 24 hours a day.

With the trend of population aging, heart failure is a prevalent public health problem worldwide, which constitutes a huge burden on the overall medical costs. In recent years, as people pay more attention to health issues, long-term monitoring and recording and analysis of physiological information can be effectively applied to improve health or early detection of diseases.

In order to detect symptoms early, especially for cardiac diseases with extremely high sudden death rates, wearable auscultation (heart sound) devices can provide real-time and effective detection and recording of abnormal heartbeat signals. Doctors can use these real-time physiological audio information for analysis and provide health warnings and care solutions.

Early wearable medical devices were large in size, making users feel like they were wearing something foreign, which was inconvenient in their daily lives and required battery replacement. Therefore, users were generally reluctant to wear wearable medical devices unless necessary.

Since the advent of wearable devices, medical wearable devices have developed a variety of appearances. However, traditional medical wearable devices, such as wearable stethoscopes, are generally worn with a strap, which can easily cause discomfort if worn for a long time.

Therefore, there is a strong need to provide a wearable stethoscope that can be integrated with clothing to further improve the discomfort caused by wearing a heart sound sensor in a traditional strap-on manner.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a wearable stethoscope that integrates a heart sound sensor with clothing to improve the discomfort caused by wearing a heart sound sensor in a traditional strap-on manner.

According to the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides a wearable stethoscope, comprising: a clothing body; a sound sensor configured to collect the user's heart sound signals, wherein the sound sensor includes: a diaphragm, a piezoelectric sensor and a circuit board, the circuit board is electrically connected to the diaphragm and the piezoelectric sensor respectively and pre-processes the collected heart sound signals; wherein the sound sensor is integrated into the clothing body.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned diaphragm, the piezoelectric sensor and the circuit board are arranged in the following manner: the diaphragm is arranged on a surface of the circuit board; a sound insulation ring is arranged on the surface, surrounding the diaphragm and packaged with the circuit board to form a resonance cavity; the piezoelectric sound sensor is arranged on a side of the sound insulation ring that is not in contact with the circuit board, wherein the piezoelectric sound sensor is directly attached to the user's skin near the heart, or attached to the user's skin through the clothing body.

In one embodiment, the piezoelectric inductor comprises a piezoelectric material, and the upper and lower surfaces of the piezoelectric material have conductive electrodes.

In one embodiment, the sound sensor is integrated into the clothing body through a storage bag.

In one embodiment, the sound sensor is detachably integrated into the clothing body via a connecting piece.

In one embodiment, the connecting member is a Velcro, a buckle or a zipper.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned clothing body is a tight-fitting garment that fits the body, so as to facilitate the piezoelectric inductor of the stethoscope to sense body sounds, especially heart sound signals.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned circuit board at least includes: a signal pre-processing module, including: a filter, a signal amplifier electrically connected to the filter, and an analog-to-digital converter electrically connected to the signal amplifier, for filtering, amplifying and digitizing the plurality of heart sound signals in sequence; a microprocessor, for receiving the digitized heart sound signal and performing calculation processing on it to obtain a pre-processed heart sound signal that is free of background noise and stable.

In one embodiment, the pre-processed heart sound signals are analyzed and cross-checked by an external computing electronic device communicatively coupled to the wearable stethoscope.

In one embodiment, the external computing electronic device is a smart phone.

Here, the present invention will be described in detail with respect to specific embodiments of the invention and its viewpoints. Such description is to explain the structure or step flow of the present invention, which is for the purpose of explanation rather than to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. Therefore, in addition to the specific embodiments and preferred embodiments in the specification, the present invention can also be widely implemented in other different embodiments. The following is an explanation of the implementation of the present invention by means of specific specific embodiments. People familiar with this technology can easily understand the effectiveness and advantages of the present invention through the contents disclosed in this specification. Moreover, the present invention can also be used and implemented through other specific embodiments. The various details described in this specification can also be applied based on different needs, and various modifications or changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Consumer or medical wearables have various appearances, among which wearable biosensors can be embodied in more diverse forms. They can appear in the form of gloves, clothing, bandages and implants, and can perform continuous and non-invasive disease diagnosis and health monitoring through body movements.

The biggest function of wearable medical devices is to detect various signals from the human body, so the accuracy of the sensors inside them is naturally very important.

Traditional heart sound equipment collects signals based on heart sound probes or cylindrical microphone sensors. Such sensors are relatively large and difficult to implement in wearable applications.

FIG1 shows a schematic diagram of integrating a stethoscope 10 with a garment 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention; wherein the stethoscope 10 is designed by integrating a piezoelectric film into a soft substrate, and the detailed structure will be described in detail in FIG2. The following first describes how to integrate the stethoscope 10 with a garment.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, referring to the upper right diagram of FIG. 1 , a pocket (accommodating bag) 12a sewn on a garment 12 is used as an accommodating space to integrate the stethoscope 10 into the garment, thereby forming a wearable stethoscope 100 as a whole.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, referring to the lower right diagram of FIG. 1 , it shows that the stethoscope 10 is attached to clothes by Velcro (14a, 14b) to form a wearable stethoscope 100. Velcro is usually composed of two fabrics, one surface is covered with a ring structure (fleece surface), and the other surface is covered with a hook structure (hook surface). When the two fabrics are pressed tightly, the hook and the ring are combined to form a temporary tightening state. If you want to separate the two, you only need to separate them by force. As shown in the lower right diagram of FIG. 1 , one of the fabrics (eg, 14 a ) in the Velcro is sewn on the clothing 12 , and the stethoscope 10 is disposed on another fabric (eg, 14 b ) in the Velcro.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned clothes are tight-fitting clothes that fit the body, so as to facilitate the piezoelectric film (piezoelectric sensor) in the stethoscope 10 to sense body sounds, especially heart sound signals.

In short, the wearable hearing aid 100 is accommodated in the body of the garment 12 through the accommodation bag 12a, or is a detachable accessory, which is arranged on the body of the garment 12 through a connecting member, such as a buckle, Velcro or zipper.

FIG2A shows the structure of a stethoscope 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the left figure is a cross-sectional view thereof and the right figure is a top view thereof. The stethoscope 200 includes a diaphragm 201a, on which a conductive material is coated, and the diaphragm 201a is packaged with a plastic frame (soundproof ring) 207 and a circuit board (hardware module 205) (wherein the resonance cavity formed by the soundproof ring 207 and the circuit board 205 forms a microphone structure in combination with the diaphragm 201a). A piezoelectric inductor 203 is arranged below the soundproof ring 207 and is electrically connected to the circuit board 205 via a line 204. It is in direct or indirect contact (through clothes) with human skin 231, and can be used to measure the voltage signal generated by vibration. That is, the piezoelectric inductor 203 can be used as a diaphragm to assist the traditional capacitive sensor in responding poorly to low-frequency signals, such as the third and fourth heart sounds whose frequencies are around 20 Hz.

In one embodiment, the piezoelectric inductor 203 is mainly composed of a piezoelectric material layer (e.g., polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer piezoelectric film, lead zirconate titanate (PZT), etc.), and the upper and lower surfaces thereof are plated with conductive metal (e.g., aluminum, copper, etc.).

In one embodiment, the thickness of the piezoelectric inductor is less than 50 μm.

2B-2C show the structure of a stethoscope 200 according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a top view thereof, and the stethoscope includes a plurality of heart sound sensors 211 and corresponding driving and detection circuits (hardware module 205) carried by a PCB circuit board; FIG. 2C is a side view thereof, and the PCB circuit board is provided with a processor, a filter, an analog/digital (A/D) converter, and other electronic components for collecting body audio signals, such as simultaneously capturing a plurality of heart sound signals at multiple points in different positions of the body, processing the collected body audio signals, and transmitting the processed body audio signals to an external computing electronic device for analysis.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned heart sound sensor 211 is made of a piezoelectric material 211a, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer piezoelectric film, lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and the like, with conductive metal (e.g., aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), etc.) 211b plated on the upper and lower surfaces as electrodes to form a piezoelectric patch on a flexible substrate 210 for sensing voltage signals generated by vibration.

The wearable stethoscope 300 includes a plurality of heart sound sensors 301 and a hardware module integrated on clothing, and its functional block diagram is shown in FIG3 . The wearable stethoscope 300 can obtain body sound signals from the human body through the sound sensors 301, and can be constructed as a stethoscope device for monitoring physiological data and remote diagnosis. The wearable stethoscope 300 can receive and send data, and execute software applications, and includes a microprocessor, a storage unit, and a wireless transmission module.

The microprocessor 325 may be a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic circuit, or other digital data processing device that executes instructions to perform processing operations according to the present invention. The microprocessor 325 may execute various application programs stored in the storage unit.

The storage unit 327 may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory, or any memory generally used in a computer.

The wireless transmission module 329 is connected to the antenna 329a, which is configured to send output data and receive input data via a wireless communication channel. The wireless communication channel can be a digital wireless communication channel, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC, 3G/4G/5G or any other future wireless communication interface.

The body audio signal obtained from the human body through the sound sensor 301 is filtered by the filter 331 and then amplified by the signal amplifier 333. The body audio signal after filtering and amplification is converted into a digital signal through an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 335 and then processed by the microprocessor 325 to obtain a de-noising and stable ECG signal and body audio signal. The microprocessor 325 can store the de-noising and stable body audio signal in a storage unit through instructions or programs, or send the signal to a mobile device, such as a smart phone, for further analysis through a wireless transmission module 329.

The battery pack 337 provides power for the wearable hearing aid 300 and can cooperate with the power management unit 339 to optimize power utilization.

The filter 331, the signal amplifier 333, the analog-to-digital converter 335 and the microprocessor 325 can be integrated into an integrated circuit (IC) as a processing unit 325a of the wearable hearing aid 300.

The processing unit 325a mentioned above is combined with the wireless transmission module 329, the storage unit 327, the battery pack 337 and the power management unit 339 to serve as the hardware module (or system circuit board) of the wearable hearing aid 300.

The filter 331, signal amplifier 333, and analog-to-digital converter 335 mentioned above can be used as a pre-processing module to filter, amplify, and digitize the above-mentioned multiple heart sound signals in sequence.

Flexible electronics refers to the use of thin film or direct-jet metal printing to create electronic circuits, which is different from the previous circuit manufacturing method based on silicon. This technology can produce bendable circuits, direct-jet circuits, or circuits made of organic materials, and can even meet the needs of folding and waterproofing.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of sound sensors 301 can be made on a soft substrate, such as fabric, polyimide PI, or polyethylene terephthalate PET and other plastics. It can combine the performance of semiconductor components with the thinness, large area, and softness and flexibility of printed electronics. Soft electronics can transform these medical devices into a form suitable for patients to wear, improve the accuracy of human body data collection, and help doctors understand the patient's condition more accurately and provide the most suitable treatment.

By using the soft electronics on the device to perform sensing functions and to achieve the functions of functionality, durability and comfort, patients can monitor their body information in real time through physiological sensing while wearing the device comfortably. By wearing medical wearable devices, various human body data can be collected and recorded in real time.

In the face of an aging society, an immediate and preventive medical system is in urgent need of being established, and the application of wearable devices is indispensable for this.

As shown in FIG4 , the wearable stethoscope 400 includes a plurality of heart sound sensors and a system circuit board 203 (see FIG2-3 ), which are integrated into the user's clothing 30 and can be communicatively connected to a mobile device (e.g., an external computing electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer) 403. The heart sound data collected by the heart sound signal sensor in the wearable stethoscope 400 can be uploaded to a cloud server 407 by the mobile device 403 via a cloud network 405 through wireless transmission (e.g., wireless communication methods such as Bluetooth and WiFi). In the cloud server, the data will be stored in a cloud data database. The system further includes an application installed in the mobile device, which contains instructions for receiving and sending data between the wearable hearing aid 400, the mobile device 403 and the cloud server 405.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned application can operate based on Android, Windows 10 or iOS operating system platforms, and can upload the collected relevant data/signals, such as electrocardiogram signals, heart sound signals and their waveforms, to the cloud server 405 for storage, and analyze and calculate the data through data analysis and feature extraction algorithms to generate an evaluation report and provide medical advice based on the data.

With the advancement and rapid rise of IoT technology, a large amount of medical information has been exchanged and analyzed, becoming the basis of medical big data. In addition, artificial intelligence, which has developed rapidly in recent years, has also been introduced to summarize this data. After the combination of IoT and artificial intelligence, real-time mobile medical care has emerged.

Wearable devices can detect the body's condition through real-time perception and large amounts of data comparison and analysis, and then summarize and interpret the response, and then make the most appropriate treatment and support. Through smart healthcare, it can be applied to physiological monitoring and general home health care; in addition, it can be combined with smartphone and tablet software to analyze and manage the measured physiological information (such as activity level, sleep quality, etc.), and at the same time connect to the back-end medical and care system through wireless transmission, thereby solving many difficulties faced by the current medical system.

Changes may be made to the above methods and systems without departing from the scope of the present embodiments. It should be noted, therefore, that the contents contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative and not limiting. Herein, unless otherwise specified, the phrase "in an embodiment" is equivalent to the phrase "in some embodiments" and does not refer to all embodiments. The appended claims are intended to cover all general and specific features described herein, as well as all statements of the scope of the present methods and systems that can be said to fall therebetween in terms of language.

12a: Storage bag 12: Clothes 10: Hearing device 100: Wearable hearing device 14a, 14b: Velcro 200: Hearing device 201a: Diaphragm 207: Soundproof ring 203: Piezoelectric inductor 204: Circuit 231: Human skin 211: Heart sound sensor 205: Hardware module 211a: Piezoelectric material 211b: Metal (e.g., aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), etc.) 210: Flexible substrate 300: Wearable hearing device 301: Heart sound sensor 325: Microprocessor 327: Storage unit 329: Wireless transmission module 329a: Antenna 331: Filter 333: Signal amplifier 335: Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 337: Battery pack 339: Power management unit 400: Wearable hearing aid 30: Clothing 403: Mobile device 405: Cloud network 407: Cloud server

[FIG. 1] shows a schematic diagram of integrating a stethoscope with clothing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[FIG. 2A] is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a stethoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2B-2C] shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a stethoscope according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[FIG. 3] shows a functional block diagram of a wearable stethoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 4] shows a schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention.

12a: Storage bag 12: Clothes 10: Stethoscope 100: Wearable stethoscope 14a, 14b: Velcro

Claims (9)

A wearable stethoscope comprises: a garment body; a sound sensor configured to collect body audio information of a user, wherein the sound sensor comprises: a diaphragm, a piezoelectric sensor and a circuit board, wherein the circuit board is electrically connected to the diaphragm and the piezoelectric sound sensor respectively and pre-processes the collected body audio information; wherein the diaphragm, the piezoelectric sensor and the circuit board are arranged in the following manner: the diaphragm is arranged on a surface of the circuit board; an insulator The sound ring is arranged on the surface, surrounds the diaphragm and forms a resonance cavity with the circuit board package; the piezoelectric sound sensor is arranged on the side of the sound insulation ring that is not in contact with the circuit board, wherein the piezoelectric sound sensor is directly attached to the user's skin near the heart, or attached to the user's skin through the clothing body; wherein the sound sensor is integrated into the clothing body; wherein the circuit board at least includes a microprocessor for receiving the body audio signal and performing calculation processing on it. A wearable hearing aid as described in claim 1, wherein the piezoelectric sensor comprises a piezoelectric material, and the upper and lower surfaces of the piezoelectric material have conductive electrodes. A wearable stethoscope as described in claim 1, wherein the sound sensor is integrated into the clothing body via a storage bag. A wearable hearing aid as described in claim 1, wherein the sound sensor is detachably integrated into the clothing body via a connecting piece. A wearable stethoscope as described in claim 4, wherein the connecting parts are Velcro, buckles or zippers. As described in claim 1, the wearable stethoscope body is a tight-fitting garment that fits the body, so that the piezoelectric sensor of the stethoscope can sense the body sound signals, including heart sound signals. The wearable hearing aid as described in claim 1, wherein the circuit board further includes: a signal pre-processing module, including: a filter, a signal amplifier electrically connected to the filter, and an analog-to-digital converter electrically connected to the signal amplifier, for sequentially filtering, amplifying and digitizing the body audio. A wearable hearing aid as described in claim 7, wherein the pre-processed body audio is analyzed and cross-checked by an external computing electronic device communicatively coupled to the wearable hearing aid. A wearable hearing aid as described in claim 8, wherein the external computing electronic device is a smart phone.